


he wants a finale and i came prepared

by cosmicpoet



Series: goro week 2019 [4]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-29 16:37:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20799689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmicpoet/pseuds/cosmicpoet
Summary: Goro decides that enough is enough - he won't stand for his good-for-nothing father's manipulation any more. And what better way to say 'fuck you' than bringing the man his father tried to get arrested as his date to a press dinner?





	he wants a finale and i came prepared

Goro shifts slightly in bed, convincing himself that he’s still asleep, if only for a little longer. It hurts to wake up - each time a new day is viciously ripped off the calendar, he’s reminded that he’s alive, still inhabiting this empty orchestra of a body, hollow and cruel and trapped by the role he’s supposed to play. But his efforts are futile, especially since the sun leaks through his curtains, taunting him with a distinct lack of warmth against his bare back, all tough and calloused and hard from years of ripping open costumes to perform for whatever audience he’s shoved up against.

Blinking himself into full consciousness, he checks his phone - it’s still ten minutes before his alarm is due to go off, but he knows that there’s no chance of getting any more sleep, and so he deactivates it before it even has chance to ring, snuffing it out and telling the mechanics of time that maybe he’s won. Any feeling of success is immediately dampened by the incoming text notification; he knows who it’s from, and like each time, he contemplates what would happen if he didn’t answer.

He’s not strong enough to do that, no matter how much he fantasises about going round to Shido’s expensive mansion, kicking the door down, and leaving a trail of destruction and chaos in his wake. The impulse to simply _ruin him _aches right down to the marrow of his bones, but for as much as Goro is hurt and scared, his father is calculated and cruel - he’d only find a way to twist the story into some act of political violence that would further his campaign, and Goro wants nothing less than for his raw emotion to be muddled into something that could help the man he hates most. So he stays quiet, compliant in matters of politics, showing his face when necessary, all hanging on the pipe dream that one day he’ll be able to expose the monster behind the mask to the public. Perhaps then he’ll learn how to breathe.

And so, he must answer the text, as much as it feels like bile in his throat and stomach and eyes, burning, burning, _burning _because what if all of this is for nothing?

**Shido, 5:45 AM: **Press dinner tonight. 7pm. Discovery Restaurant. I expect you there for the press.

He doesn’t reply. Why should he? It wasn’t phrased like a question, so it shouldn’t warrant an answer. But, looking at the clock, he sees that he has thirteen hours until he’s supposed to be stuffed into a well-pressed suit, choking on his fake smile for cameras and journalists. Knowing that he needs to calm himself down enough so that he won’t crack, he drags himself into the shower, wanting only to feel clean and spend the morning in Leblanc.

At this point, he’s gone beyond questioning _why Leblanc? _None of the answers seem to fit quite right in the puzzle of his heart;

_The coffee is the best I’ve ever tasted._

_They let me use their chess board._

_The barista always seems to cheer me up._

Still, he’s teaching himself how to live by more than just logic and hatred, so just for now, he’ll follow his heart, letting it lead him across the subways and down the backstreets until he’s in the hearth-like familiarity of the café, slumped by the counter, desperately aware that his emotions are written all across his face.

“Penny for your thoughts,” the barista - Ren, was it? - says.

“At this point, you’d get change.”

“Tell me anyway.”

“Maybe later,” Goro sighs, staring into his coffee. He takes it a little sweeter than this, but it doesn’t look like there’s any sugar on the counter.

“Oh, here,” Ren - definitely Ren, Goro remembers - says, reaching under the counter and handing him a bowl of brown sugar, “I remember you took it quite sweet last time.”

“T-Thank you.”

Smirking a little, probably at the way Goro stumbles over his reaction to such a genuine act of kindness, Ren leans against the counter and turns on the television in the corner; it’s playing some news broadcast, talking about the election progress, and _surprise surprise, _there he is.

He wants to say something, wants to beg Ren to turn the television off because he can’t stand the sight of Shido, but before he can choke out any words, Ren speaks.

“Fuck that guy.”

“Hm?” Goro responds, suddenly more interested than he was previously.

Ren motions to the television. “Him.”

“You don’t like him?”

“He ruined my life.”

“I… what?”

“It’s no big deal. Sorry, I shouldn’t mention it. How are you?”

“No, tell me. I really want - I _need - _to know.”

“Why, don’t tell me you’re voting for him?”

“Oh, god no,” Goro spits out, his face contorting into anger, “I’d rather die.”

“Ha. Me too.”

“What did he do? I wouldn’t put it past him to ruin the life of someone innocent.”

“You talk like you know him.”

“O-Oh, I…”

_“Do _you know him?”

“I suppose you’d only need to research past news for a few hours to find out my connections to him. He’s… Shido is… my father.”

_“What?”_

“No, no, please,” Goro backtracks, suddenly terrified of the intensely serious look in Ren’s eyes, “I hate having to say that. I don’t willingly associate with him.”

“Ah, he’s awful to his own family, too?”

“You can’t really call it family.”

“Really?”

“My mother… he discarded her like trash when she found out she was pregnant. The despair drove her to her death, leaving me to be tossed around orphanages and cruel foster families until he got back in contact with me a year ago.”

_“He _contacted _you?”_

“Yes. I was surprised, too. But it was right after the first case I solved that shot me into the spotlight, and he reached out to me, asking me to accompany him to functions and events. You know, so he could have a successful son to parade around and get him more votes? And… at first, I went along with it.”

“Why?”

“I didn’t know what else to do. I know you’re probably mad at me-”

“I’m not.”

“-but you have to understand, I didn’t - I don’t - know what it’s like to have parents. I didn’t know I was being manipulated with praise that would be immediately retracted because I wasn’t _good enough. _It took me months to figure it out, and by then, I couldn’t exactly stop. He’s got connections, Ren. He could pay someone off and have my name dragged through the mud, ruin the career I’ve built for myself. I just… I go along with it, and I try and tell myself it’s so that I can one day destroy his life from the inside, but maybe it’s just because… because I’m weak. Sorry. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t… I’m sorry. I don’t normally overshare like this.”

“I’m listening.”

“I don’t need your pity. I’m doing quite well for myself these days.”

“I’m not pitying you. I want to help.”

“I don’t need-”

“Not that. I mean I want to help get revenge. Or at least make sure he doesn’t get elected.”

“Why? You never told me how he ruined your life.”

“I… I didn’t know it was him until the court case. But I’ve mentioned it before - how I was arrested on false charges of assault; set up by someone with money and power, yeah?”

“That was…?”

“That was him.”

“He’s awful.”

“I know. Still, you have it worse. I was cleared of the charges last year, all very hushed up of course, keep him from the public eye, pay off the judges to keep my innocence under wraps. You still have to see him, don’t you?”

Goro pauses. Breathes. Wants to cry. “Yes. Tonight, actually.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s nothing I haven’t done before. Just a press dinner. Smile for the cameras, don’t talk, go far enough into my own head that I can almost dissociate myself out of the room until it’s over, and then go home and drink myself to blackout so I don’t have to remember how fucked up my life is because of him.”

“What if I could help?”

“How?”

“Let me come as your date.”

“What? To the dinner?”

“Yeah. I’m sure he’ll remember my face. It’ll throw him off.”

“And he _is _homophobic. It would piss him off so much to have to keep his comments down in front of cameras. But… I mean, is it worth what he could do to my career afterwards?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I’ve got this friend who’s like, mad good with computers. If he pays someone to ruin your career, we can just expose that, too. Make it known that he ruined the career of _talented, humble, gay Detective Prince Goro Akechi _because he’s homophobic and a neglectful parent. Watch his election support plummet after that! It’s foolproof.”

“I can’t believe you’ve actually talked me into this. It… it could work, you know.”

“It will work.”

“But won’t it put you in danger? I mean, he’s a violent man… he could…”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” Ren says, with a confident smirk.

“Alright, then. I suppose I’ll pick you up at six?”

“I’ll be waiting… _honey.”_

“Wear something nice.”

“Only the best for you, _sweetheart.”_

Goro wants to kiss him there and then. And then he has to contemplate whether this is such a good idea, after all, because as much as he wants to ruin Shido’s career and expose him for the awful, hypocritical man he is, he doesn’t know if he can hold himself together enough to _not _fall in love with Ren. He hates himself for it, in all honesty, because after a lifetime of neglect it’s so easy for him to fall head over heels for the first attractive man who shows him genuine care, but he can’t pretend to himself like it isn’t more than that - even if he’d had a normal life, he knows deep in his heart that he’d still feel this way for the cute barista with far too messy hair and a smile that can melt him into almost-happiness.

Which is perhaps another reason why he’s so nervous as he stands outside Leblanc that evening, wearing his crisp, tailored suit and fiddling with his tie before he opens the door.

He’s not sure what he expects Ren to be wearing, but a loose button up with an open collar and tight fitted dress pants is _not _it.

_Damn._

“Ready to go?” Ren says, crossing the room and putting his arms around Goro’s neck with a smile.

“Thank you for this.”

“Any time.”

Ren reaches into his pocket and brings out a small flower, tucking it into Goro’s breast pocket. “Keep this on,” he says, “it’s important. For our genius masterplan.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll see,” Ren taps the side of his nose, “that’s the thrill of the risk.”

“It’s strange. Half of me wants to grab you by the collar and make you tell me what you’re planning, the other half of me just… _trusts you.”_

“Either is fine by me.”

“Oh, shut up. Let’s get going.”

They take the train together, and the moment before they round the corner towards the restaurant, Ren holds Goro’s hand. He wants to say that they have a few seconds left of reality, but the way Ren looks at him - so soft and forgiving and warm - he can’t bear to pull himself out of this daydream.

And then there’s Shido’s glare, his pursed lips, his too-tight grip on Goro’s shoulder, countered only by the way that Ren gives his hand a gentle squeeze and, in a spontaneous act of _‘fuck you’, _kisses Goro on the cheek the moment the cameras flash.

He’s ushered inside, and even though Ren is there, he sinks into the familiar dissociation that comes alongside faking it at public events. Every so often, when he knows that his eyes are becoming too glazed over, he’ll feel Ren’s hand in his own, looking over to see him absolutely _doting _on him, batting his eyelashes and giving the performance of the century. When he looks over and sees Shido absolutely _seething, _it takes everything within him to suppress a smile.

He just about manages to keep his vomit down when Shido confronts them, glaring directly at Ren, giving Goro the cold shoulder and making him feel smaller than ever.

“Oh, it’s wonderful to meet you,” Ren says, smirking, _“again. _I’m sure you remember me! You got me arrested on false charges, right? Man, I wish I had as much money as you, being able to pay off lawyers to keep my innocence a secret! How’s the election campaign coming along?”

“You will not speak to me that way, scum.”

“Oh, but I’m just _so glad _we could clear everything up! Thanks to my wonderful honey-bear sugarplum sweetheart Goro, I’ve managed to overcome everything you put in my way! So thank you, it truly is good to meet you in person and show you how well I’m doing.”

“If you’ll _excuse me,” _Shido spits, “I need to have a word with Akechi.”

Goro gulps down his fear as Shido grabs him roughly by the arm and drags him into an empty corridor. He can do nothing but put a blank stare on his face, trying not to scream, as Shido makes it obvious that he can’t run away.

“What the _fuck _do you think you’re doing? Bringing that… criminal scum to my dinner? Embarrassing me? Do you _want _me to ruin that pathetic little career you’ve built for yourself?”

“No, I… he’s my…”

“Oh, don’t tell me, your _boyfriend,” _Shido mocks him, “as if anyone would love you. He’ll just throw you out whenever he’s done with you, and once I’ve ruined your career, you’ll have nothing.”

“You ruined _his _life!” Goro hisses, anger burning in his chest. It’s one thing to take Shido’s insults himself, but bringing Ren into it is crossing some sort of line. “And you can pay off as many people as you need to ruin my career, but you won’t be able to take the life I’ve built away from me.”

“Oh, you really think so? I can toss money the right way and have your name dragged through the mud. _Disgraced. _You and your little boyfriend won’t be able to show your faces anywhere, ever again. I’ll show you exactly what you get for crossing me. Don’t you know that I have everyone in my well-lined pockets? There’s nothing you can do that’ll get the better of me.”

“How could you do that? To him? To me?”

“It was petty cash to pay off the court to keep my name out of the press. It’s surprising what people will do for money, even that stupid woman took a high enough sum to incriminate the worthless kid for whatever crime _I _made up. Don’t you see? You can never surpass my power. So here’s what you’re going to do. Next dinner, you’re going to bring a _woman _with you, none of this bullshit about you liking men, and you’re going to smile and wave and be whatever I want you to be for the press, got it? Otherwise, you can say goodbye to your happy little detective career. After I’m done paying people off, you won’t even get hired to solve a petty theft. Got it? _Got it?”_

“Yes,” Goro says, deadpan, as usual. He can’t pretend like Shido’s words haven’t cut him deep, but he’s just so used to pretending like he’s an emotionless blank canvas around his father that he can’t even bring himself to cry. Instead, he brushes out his suit, takes a deep breath, and walks back out to the round dinner table to sit next to Ren.

Instantly, Ren’s hand is brushing against his own underneath the dinner table. His phone buzzes in his pocket with a text.

**Ren Amamiya, 7:51 PM: **you okay?

**Goro Akechi, 7:53 PM: **Yes.

For the rest of the night, Ren makes a show of being overly intimate with Goro, holding his hand and being absolutely _all over him _that it would be impossible for anyone to pull them away. Goro suspects that it’s some kind of protective nature, not wanting a repeat of the earlier incident in which they were separated, but he isn’t exactly complaining about it.

When the clock chimes 10pm, Ren stands up, pulling Goro up with him.

“Well,” he says, “it’s been lovely meeting all of you. Me and my _boyfriend _really must be off, now. Isn’t that right, Goro, darling?”

“Yes,” he says, “thank you for having us.”

Murmurs of fake-approval echo across the table, but Ren is soon pulling him out of the door and down enough streets so that they won’t have been followed by cameras or journalists.

“Hey,” he says, pulling an expensive bottle of whiskey out of his jacket, “I stole this from behind the bar. Wanna come back to mine and talk?”

“I’m fine, Ren. It’s nothing I haven’t dealt with before. But… thank you for being there.”

“Nah, you gotta come. I have something to show you.”

“Alright,” Goro says. He follows Ren onto the subway, tracing his steps all the way back to Leblanc. Once they get in the door, Ren reaches up and loosens his tie, leading him up the stairs and sitting next to him on the mattress he apparently calls a bed.

“I’m sorry, that must have been hard.”

“It’s the usual.”

“I know I never actually hit him when he said I did, but _god _I wanted to when he pulled you away. Are you okay?”

“I’m… fine. Really.”

“You don’t have to lie to me. Hey, give me that,” Ren takes the flower out of Goro’s breast pocket, turning it over in his hands in such a way that it seems to light up, and then go dull again.

“What _is _that?”

“A recording device. Whatever Shido said tonight - and I’m sure it was some sort of threat - will be recorded on here. It’s your call, but we can take him down before dawn if you want.”

“I… how?”

“Like I said, my friend is good with computers.”

“We… couldn’t. Ren, he’s powerful. He can just pay people off to keep things quiet.”

“Well, yeah, he could. But my friend - she’s called Futaba - has spent all of tonight digging up the old court case against me, and tons of other shit, too. She’s ready to expose all of his crimes, and with this evidence, we can expose the deplorable person he is, too. He’ll lose so much of his election support before he even wakes up tomorrow.”

“And what if it backfires?”

“Then we’ll leave the country, take on new names, and live out a quiet life in an Italian vineyard.”

“You’re so idealistic.”

“You love it.”

“So what do we do?”

“Well, everything’s ready to go. Futaba will send this to a reporter I know - she’s unbiased, and can have it all published within the next few hours. By morning, I suspect every major news station will be covering all the exposed scandals.”

“What are you waiting for?”

“Your consent.”

“He ruined _your _life too, Ren. You don’t need to wait for me to overcome my own shit to destroy him.”

“No,” Ren says, laying his hands over Goro’s, “we’re in this together. It has to be unanimous.”

“Then do it,” Goro replies, steeling himself, “take him down.”

Ren pulls out his phone and sends a text, before putting it back in his pocket and looking at Goro.

“It’s done,” he says, “now we wait.”

Like a weight has been simultaneously put onto and lifted off his shoulders, Goro buries his head in his hands, overwhelmed by the stress that he’s going to be inevitably feeling for the next few days. Slowly, he feels the warmth of Ren’s hand on his back, a gesture which moulds itself into a full blown hug, until he finds himself falling deeply into exhaustion. In his hazy half-asleep state, he just about notices the gentle rise and fall of Ren’s chest, and the feeling of being laid down on the bed, before he falls into the first comfortable sleep he’s had in years.

The next morning, he wakes up to the sound of his phone vibrating a worrying amount. His first thought is that Shido is calling him, and his heart drops deep within his chest, anxiety building and terror filling him from the marrow of his bones outwards. But, as he checks his phone, he just sees that it’s an expanse of notifications flooding in, all linked somehow to a news article that seems to be plastered across the headlines.

**SHIDO MASAYOSHI: CRIMES EXPOSED**

_An anonymous source has contacted press outlets early this morning with irrefutable evidence that electoral candidate Shido Masayoshi has engaged in a plethora of crimes, from assault to bribery. On top of that, audio evidence has been exposed of his active homophobia and manipulation towards famed detective, Goro Akechi. We are awaiting comment from Shido Masayoshi, but current trends suggest that he will withdraw from the election and be fired from his current position._

He clicks away from the article. He knows all this already, it’s just surprising that Ren could actually pull it off - could actually do what Goro has wished he could do all these years, and show the public the truth behind the lies.

And then he checks his social media. Normally, he wakes up to notifications from fans, but there’s an overwhelming amount of them today; nervously, he gulps down his anxiety and reads a few of them.

**DetectivePrinceFan101: **I didn’t know Goro was being mistreated? That’s so awful, he deserves better. Thinking of you, Goro!

**Angel1572: **god there’s no place for homophobia in modern society. sorry you had to come out this way goro!! you have all my support <3

**xOxOAKECHI: **I kinda feel more comfortable coming out as bi now I know that Goro Akechi is gay?? Idk he’s like someone I really admire and I want his impact to be that a generation of LGBT+ people with shitty parents find comfort in an online community. Thank you for giving us all that courage, Goro.

**loki778: **man who knew that goro was going through all that and still putting on a smile for the public?? honestly a legend. wig #supportforgoro

** _TRENDING HASHTAGS: _ ** _#GoroAkechi #LGBTRights #SupportForGoro_

He rolls over and feels Ren sleeping next to him. There’s the feeling of safety, of a fresh start, of _happiness._

“We did it,” he whispers into Ren’s hair, “thank you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry this was posted a little later than I wanted, I've been a little busier today than the previous days of Goro Week!
> 
> Title from 'Townie' by Mitski. Please comment if you enjoyed!


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